A typical household utilizes numerous appliances for functioning in everyday life, and many of these appliances require electricity to operate. Most electrical appliances come equipped with a power cord that is plugged into an outlet in order to receive the necessary power. Frequently, when an electrical appliance is not in use, the power cord is wrapped up (often in a rather haphazard fashion), and the appliance is put away into some sort of storage area. However, this ordinary process has several disadvantages.
First, it is inconvenient to repeatedly remove an item from storage for use, to plug it in to an electrical outlet, and then to unplug and return it again. This is not to mention the difficulty of wrapping up and storing power cords, which are built rather inflexibly and often end up in only a tangled mess. Leaving all appliances out of storage and always available for use might be an option, but besides the lack of adequate counter space, there are often not enough outlets to accommodate powering multiple items simultaneously. Power strips help to solve this problem by providing more outlets to connect with, but plugging multiple power cords into the same location may result in the cords becoming tangled or becoming a tripping hazard. In addition, many power cords coming from multiple appliances can be an eye-sore.
Many of these problems could be solved by a system that allows items to be conveniently stored and also electrically powered by means of the structure that stores the items simultaneously. For example, an automated storage and retrieval system that stored all items in a ready-to-use, powered state and then brought needed items to a convenient access point for use would be ideal. The frequent movement of the items would make it necessary to eliminate the need for power cords entirely. Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus that can provide a power connection without a power cord and provide a supporting structure for storage items within the storage system too. Some methods have been developed that provide a quicker means of connecting an object to power than plugging a power cord into an outlet. However, most of these power connection methods are complex designs and do not provide a support structure for the object. Therefore, two separate actions are still required to store an object and connect it to power. What is needed is an apparatus of a simple design that provides both power and a support structure for a stored object.